Nestlé Spain recently organized an event to highlight and recognize suppliers for their sustainability initiatives. Aptar’s Torelló site in Spain was recognized with a Sustainable Supplier Award for the redesign of the “La Lechera” closure, used within packaging for condensed milk. Aptar has produced this closure since 1999, but in 2015 began to work on improving the efficiency of the closure. After studying the product through a lifecycle assessment, Aptar Torelló’s engineering department proposed modifications that would lessen the carbon footprint of the closure.
The site then carried out an additional lifecycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impact after the modification. The improved closure minimizes impact to the environment within all stages of the product lifecycle through reduced consumption of materials and energy. The results showed that the technical improvements allowed for a 20% reduction in CO2. Using the quantity of closures that were shipped to Nestlé in 2016 as a baseline, the total amount of CO2 emissions reductions are 144 tonnes per year. This amount of CO2 is equivalent to the carbon offsets generated by 469 planted trees or the distance driven by 75 cars annually. In addition, the team at Aptar Torelló improved the performance of the closure making it easier and more efficient for consumers to use.
In total, the event led by Nestlé Spain CEO, Laurent Dereux, was attended by 28 Nestlé suppliers each with initiatives targeted at improving the community and the environmental.
Special thanks to Ferran Fornols (fourth from left in photo), Ricard Canal, Nando Cutarella, Michele del Grosso, Jaume Soldevila (third from left in photo) and the entire team at Aptar Torello for their work with the redesign, engineering, and assessment of the closure.
